Jeremiah Johnson
by Mediancat
Summary: On the anniversary of Joyce Summers' death, Buffy and Dawn remember her.


"Been far, Pilgrim?"  
  
"Seems like far."  
  
"Were it worth the trouble?"  
  
"Eh, what trouble?"  
  
-- from the movie "Jeremiah Johnson."  
  
  
  
"Hey Dawn?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You know what Saturday is, right?"  
  
"The day after Friday."  
  
"I'm being serious."  
  
". . . . oh. OH. Oh. Oh. I can't believe I forgot."  
  
"Don't worry about it. Didn't plan on ragging you anyway. I was just thinking . . . we should do something. Just the two of us."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"I don't know. Stuff Mom would have done. Stuff she would have liked. Maybe we could go take a look at her art gallery. Or go to one the restaurants she liked."  
  
"We don't have that much money –"  
  
"We can afford this."  
  
"Yeah. I guess we can. I did have to do some work at the Magic Box –"  
  
"For Saturday, I'll get Anya to let you off."  
  
"I don't know if she'll do that. She's hellbent on running me ragged."  
  
"Dawn – you stole stuff from her shop. She could have called the cops. Especially on the stuff you DIDN'T steal from her shop. All things considered, a little anonymous returning and a few months of inventory doesn't strike me as too severe a punishment."  
  
"But –"  
  
"I know you don't like her. I know you think she treats you like a child. So what's the best way to prove her wrong?"  
  
". . . by being mature and dealing?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"And don't worry about Saturday. She'll let you have the day off. If it kills her."  
  
"And everyone else?"  
  
"Spike'll patrol. Everyone else'll be told not to interrupt us. Will already knows – she's going to spend the day on campus."  
  
"Okay then. You're right. We need to do this for Mom."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Well, that was . . ."  
  
"Disappointing."  
  
"Yeah. I barely recognize the place. This new owner –"  
  
"She's not Mom. It's only natural she'd have new tastes. But –"  
  
"But—"  
  
"But what I feel like saying is how dare she. How dare this woman take OUR mother's gallery and turn it into – into – "  
  
"Into that pretentious piece of crap."  
  
"You could tell the difference."  
  
"Britney Spears could tell the difference. Mom liked to try to make sure everyone could enjoy what she had. This woman – she's aiming for the rich crowd."  
  
"I wish we hadn't had to sell it."  
  
"I know this much. I am NEVER going back in there. Mom's not there anymore."  
  
"She's still around somewhere, Dawn. You have to remember that."  
  
"I do."  
  
"Sorry the day's been a bust so far."  
  
"It hasn't. We had a nice lunch. It's been nice . . . just the day with you. It's been nice talking about Mom. Even if the art gallery woman was a total bitch."  
  
"So . . . what next?"  
  
"How about a movie?"  
  
"What's out there Mom would have liked? She was hardly a Schwarzenegger fan – and she HATED most war movies. I'm also fairly sure Super Troopers wouldn't have been on her must-see list either."  
  
"No. I wasn't thinking that. I was thinking . . . videos. We rent a couple of Mom's favorite movies and we watch them. Like – Thelma and Louise, maybe. Or Steel Magnolias."  
  
"Good idea, Dawn."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"I got Thelma and Louise. What'd you pick?"  
  
"I'm not sure yet. I'm not looking for one in particular. When I find the right one, I'll know."  
  
"Okay. I'll be scoping out the new releases."  
  
"No – wait."  
  
"What? You're in action. Mom didn't much go for action."  
  
"She liked this one. I watched it with her once – the last movie I ever watched with her, actually."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. She actually told me it was one of her all-time favorites."  
  
"What's it called?"  
  
"Jeremiah Johnson. It's about this guy who wants to be a mountain man and live alone, but keeps running into people who won't let him alone. Stars Robert Redford."  
  
"That guy from the Horse Whisperer?"  
  
"That guy. You ever heard of the movie Indecent Proposal?"  
  
"No – wait. That was the one where some millionaire offers a guy a million dollars if he can spend one night with his wife, right?"  
  
"Right. I remember one time mom watched the movie and she looked at me and said, 'I don't see what the big deal is, here, really. I mean, I'd sleep with Robert Redford for fifty cents.'"  
  
"TMI!"  
  
"No, she was making a joke. But she really liked the guy's movies."  
  
"Well then . .. we should get it."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"I can see why she liked the movie – even if it was made way back in the stone age."  
  
"1972, Dawn. 1972."  
  
"Like I said. The stone age. Still – neat movie."  
  
"Glad to hear it. I kind of like it too. Despite it being made by cavemen."  
  
"Smartass."  
  
"You know -- Mom loved that line there at the end."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"Where he says, 'what trouble?' I mean, all the guy had been through, watching people he cared about killed, almost freezing to death, being chased for weeks by a LOT of pissed-off Indians who had every right to be pissed, if not at him, and all he says is, 'What trouble?' Master of the understatement, he was."  
  
"Yeah, I can see that. You know what? That sounds a little like Mom. You know? She went through an awful lot, what with you being the Slayer, me being a ball of energy in human form, the divorce, all of it. But I bet if you would have asked her if it had been worth the trouble –"  
  
"She would have just shrugged and said, 'What trouble?' Yeah. You're right."  
  
"If we ever do a biography of her life – that's what we should call it."  
  
"If you ever write it, you so very should. Of course, you're going to have to leave a few things out."  
  
"Buffy?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"This was a good idea. We should do it again."  
  
"Same time, next year, then?"  
  
"Same time next year." 


End file.
